Hosiery moistener



Oct. `14, 1941. H. F WANAMAKE'R 2,259,405

HosIERY MoIsTENER I Filed July 6, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet l Patented Oct. 14, 1941 Y -2,259,4I)5 g oFFIcs HOSIERY MOISTENER Harry F. Wanamaker, Philadelphia, Pa., assigner to Proctor & Schwartz, Incorporated, Philadelpla, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application July 6, 1939,k serial No. 283,106

(o1. 22a-7s) 1 Claim.

This invention relates to a hosiery moistener adapted to be installed on a hosiery dryer immediately in advance of the hosiery forms, with stockings in position thereon, entering the drying chamber.

' Prior .to the present invention it has been known to meisten hosiery on forms prior to the Yentrance thereof into drying chambers, by passing the hosiery forms through a suitable cloud of steam or vapor within a chamber situated adjacent the entrance to the dryer. It has also been known to moisten hosiery by projecting jets of Asteam from a plurality of small relatively spaced nozzles against the opposite sides of the stocking in advance of its entrance into the dryer.

The first of the above noted systems is not entirely satisfactory because the steam in the moistening chamber is at atmospheric pressure, due to the chamber necessarily being open to the atmosphere to permit passage of the hosiery formsV into and out of the moistening chamber,

:as disclosed in the prior U. S. Letters Patent to tened.

The second system is open to the objection of the jets of steam impinging upon relatively spaced points along the hosiery form not effecting uniform moistening of the hosiery; and caus- 'ing spotting of the hosiery as a result of condensation of the steam as it spreads to parts of the form intermediate the points at which impingement of the jets occurs.

The object of the present invention is to pro- Vide a hosiery moistener which will overcome `all of' the above noted objections, in a manner which will hereinafter be fully disclosed in connection vwith the description of the apparatus,

AVa practical form of which is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation, partly in section, of one end of an automatic hosiery dryer of the type disclosed in the aforesaid prior patents and in the patent to Coulston and Schwartz, No. 1,126,619, dated January 26, 1915, with the moistener only of the present invention applied thereto;

` Fig. 2 is a section plan View taken on the line .2L-2, Fig. 1, and drawn to an enlarged scale with steam conning casings around the moistener;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional elevation taken on the line 3-3, Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a detached perspective view of one half of the steam `conning casing; and

Fig. 6 is a detached perspective view of one of the moisteners of the invention.

YAs shown in Fig-s. 1 and 2, each stocking a: is positioned on a hosiery form I. The form is supported by a carriage 2 which is adapted to travel along a track 3 forming part of a hosiery drying machinel of the type disclosed in the above noted prior patents. Each carriage 2 is provided with a driving projection 4 which is disposed in the path of a spiral ribbon cam 5 operable below the track 3 and secured to the rotary shaft 6. The track 3 extends within the drying chamber 'l of fthe drying machine and outwardly beyond said chamber, providing a circuit through which the carriages 2 move the forms I for drying hosiery thereon within the chamber and for removal of the dried hosiery from the forms and the replacement thereof by hosiery to be moistened outside the drying chamber.

EachV form I, with a stocking n: thereon, immediately in advance of its entrance into Vthe drying chamber 'l through a slot 8 formed in the front wall of the drying chamber l, passes between a pair of vertically disposed` steam boxes or chambers II), I9 which constitute the moisteners.

As shown in Fig. 6 each of the moisteners Il), in the present case, is in the form of an elongated nollow cylinder of a length substantially equal to or greater than the portion of the form I which extends above the uppermostportion of the carriage 2. The longitudinal axes of the moisteners I0, I0 are arranged vertically at opposite Vsides respectively of the path of movement of the forms I along the track` 3. Each of the moisteners I0 is provided with a continuous uninterrupted slot Il extending longitudinally thereof, substantially from end to end thereof,

vsaid slots II, Il being arranged on the sides of the cylinders IIJ, I0 lying adjacent the path of movement of the forms I, I, i. e. the slots Il, Il lie in a common vertical plane disposed substantially at right angles to the vertical` plane in which said forms move as they travel horizontally along the track 3.

To the upper closed end I2 of each of the moistening cylinders I0, I0, is connected at steam pipe I3, said pipes being connected to a common supply pipe I4 in which is a control valve I5, between the moistening cylinders I0, l0 and a suitable source of steam supply, in which supply the steam is maintained at a pressure in excess Aof atmospheric pressure.

The valve I5 is provided with a plunger I6 and a spring I1 thereon for normally maintaining the fand permits steam under pressure to flow through the feed pipe I4 and its branches I3, I3 into the stocking on the form, as the stocking moves be-` tween the cylinders Ill, Ill, effects immediate penetration of the fabric, uniformly from end to end ofthe stocking. v f

The steam; after impinging against the sides of the hosiery on theform, will rebound laterally, and such'rebound is trapped by and confined within casings 22, 22 which surround the Vrears of the cylinders I', IB. Heat from within the drying chamber 1 flows outwardly through the entrance slot 8 into space left between the trap casings to permit travel of the forms I 'therethrough and tends to move the cloud of steam out of the trap casings 22, 22 in a direction opposite to that in which the forms I advance in entering the slot 8. This moving steam is trapped by complementary trap casings 23, V23 arranged along the track 3 in advance of the main trap casings 22, 22, which surround the moistening cylinders Ill. Thus, as each form I with the stocking :c thereon enters the passageway 24 formed betweenrthe innermost edges 25, 25 of the convergent front walls 26, 26 of the complementary trap casings 23, 23 respectively, it passes into an atmosphere of expanded we t steam or damp vapor and the stocking on the form receives a preliminary moistening, Vprior =to its entrance between the impinging sheets of live steam projected outwardly through the continuous slots II, II of the moistening cylinders I0, I respectively.

Any condensation of the expanded steam within the casings 22, 22 and 23, 2a produced by contact thereof with the inner surfaces of the walls of the trap casings, will collect on said inner walls and descend into an internal drip trough 21v formed along the lower edges of theA casings 22, 22 and corresponding drip troughs 28, 28 extending along the lower edges of the casings 23, 23, said drip troughs being connected by vpipes 29, 29. Condensation collected within the casings is drained from the troughs 21, 21 through suitable drain pipes 33, 30. Similarly any condensation that may occur within the interiors of the cylinders I0, I0, is drained from the lower ends of said cylinders by drain pipes 3|, 3|, under control of drip valves 32, 32.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 5, each of the trap casings 22 is of a triangular cross section With the open sides thereof facing each other at opposite sides respectively of the path of movement of the forms I. One edge of each casing 22, adjacent the drying chamber 1, is bent inwardly at an acute angle to the rear wall 33 ofthe casing, as shown at 34, the edge walls 34, 34 flaring backwardly and outwardly with respect to the path or movement of the forms I, in divergent relation to each other. The second or front wall 35 of each casing 22 terminates immediately adjacent the path of movement of the forms I and meets with an angular rear wall 36 of the casing 23, at the point 31.

The back walls 36,36 of the casings 23, 23 and the front walls 26, 26 of said casings, are substantially parallel to each other and are arranged in backwardly and outwardly flaring relation to each other, in substantially the same manner as the walls 34, 34 of the casings 22, 22. The front walls 26 and the rear walls 36 of the casings 23 are connected by side walls 38 which are substantially parallel to the path of movement of the forms I. The front walls 25, 26 of thecasings 23, 23 from the edges 25, 25 thereof ilare outwardly, as indicated at 39, 39.

The above arrangement tends to trap and hold the moving cloud of expanded steam, to effect preliminary moistening of the hosiery on the forms I before being introduced to the impinging sheets of live steam from the cylinders I0. I0.

The tops of the casings 22 and 23 are shown as being open in the present instance, to permit natural rise of the expanded steam, while the casings 22 and 23 trap and confine the lateral movement of the steam as it expands.

The cylinders IB, IIJ are supported by brackets 20, 2E) respectively, which in turn are carried by uprights 2|, 2| secured, in the present instance, to the track 3.

The casings 22 are each supported by brackets 4) which are secured in any suitable manner to the uprights 2|, and the casings 23, 23 may be supported by similar additional uprights 4I 4I, or in any other suitable manner. l

I claim:

A moistener for hosiery comprising a series of -flat vertical hosiery-supporting forms successively movable edgewise in a vertical plane along a horizontal path into an entrance slot of a dryer adjacent Vwhich the moistener is adapted to be located, a pair of steam chambers respectively located at opposite sides of said path with continuous Vertical slots respectively directing sheets of steam in opposite directions toward said path in a common plane transverse to the plane of movement of said forms, a main casing enclosing said steam chambers and having a form entrance and exit connected by a through passageway for said forms coincident with said path and aligned with said dryer slot, said main casing being adapted to catch and condense steam rebounding from said forms as said forms pass through said sheets of steam, and an auxiliary casing contiguous to that side of said main casing remotely situated with respect to said dryer and having a through passageway for said forms in line with the passageway of said main casing, said auxiliary casing being adapted to catch and condense steam driven from the form entrance of said main casing by a current of air escaping from said dryer through said slot therein and entering the form exit of said main casing, those Vparts of said auxiliary casing disposed at opposite sides respectively of said passageway each comprlsmg adjacent angularly arranged vertical l walls forming a rhomboidal coniiguration crosssectionally in a horizontal plane, with one side of each rhomboidal casing part lying adjacent and parallel to said passageway and being open for entrance of the steam thereinto, said rhomboidal casing parts being disposed reversely at said opposite sides of said passageway with the longer diagonals of the rhomboids diverging from the form entrance of the main casing in the direction opposite to the movement of the forms through said juxtapositioned main and auxiliary casings.

HARRY F. WAN AMAKER. 

